Interactive Ads: Reshaping Fan Engagement in Live Sports on CTV
Live sports are moving to streaming, allowing brands to connect with mass audiences consuming synchronous programming on CTV. For example, Netflix locked down an exclusive $5 billion deal to broadcast World Wrestling Entertainment events, Amazon now airs Thursday Night Football and Peacock debuted the first NFL playoff game to appear exclusively on a streaming service.
The shift to streaming isn’t just a change of channel, though. CTV comes with unique advertising capabilities, specifically related to interactivity. This holds particular promise for live sports, a realm where viewer engagement is paramount – and ad impressions are growing.
So how can advertisers capitalize on the specific context of live sports viewership on CTV to drive real-time commercial activations? Here are some examples of the kinds of interactive CTV advertising experiences, and AI-driven opportunities brands and publishers should consider as live sports move to streaming.
Interactive ad experiences
The first level of interactive ads on CTV will be seamlessly interacting with and buying products relevant to the viewing experience. For example, viewers might see a star player score a goal and buy the jersey or cap the player is wearing. These sorts of activations can be made easy with a QR code, or the viewer may be able to swipe the remote over a button on the screen and make the purchase with a single click.
Another level of interactivity works particularly well as a communal sporting experience. Food delivery is a prime example. After a team wins, an ad might prompt viewers to order celebratory drinks and take them directly to DoorDash or streamline the purchase via a single click. Similar activations would be possible during breaks or at halftime. NBCU already debuted this capability during the Olympics via a partnership with Instacart and Flowcode.
A third potential form of interactivity is playable ads. Advertisers can transform the usually passive CTV viewing experience into an active one by providing games that audiences can play during breaks. These ads might be relevant to the programming, too. For example, a Wii tennis-style game could appear during a tennis match. This format would be especially attractive to gaming advertisers, who could give viewers a taste of their game and then prompt them to download it on mobile through a QR code.
AI’s role in expanding interactive CTV ad opportunities
AI will make interactive CTV advertising more effective in a number of ways, both in terms of the contextual awareness required to know when and where to serve an ad, and the targeting and personalization it unlocks.
For example, computer vision AI will help with content recognition, helping advertisers and publishers understand when to insert an ad other than commercial breaks. Consider a tennis match. AI will be able to recognize ‘down’ moments, such as when a player is sitting on a bench eating a banana, triggering an ad break in those moments while avoiding doing so during a rally. This recognition will optimize ad inventory without undermining the viewing experience.
Limited memory AI has a role to play in targeting. If someone ordered drinks or pizza during a game before, they might receive an ad for a similar product — or get an ad at a similar moment within the game, such as halftime or the break between the third and fourth quarters.
Another advancement that limited memory AI will drive is the granularity of creative personalization. Content recommendation engines still struggle to understand whether you just checked out a baseball game one time because your brother was visiting or if you have a sustained interest in the sport. You don’t necessarily want to get dozens of baseball ads because you watched one game. AI will be able to understand viewing patterns more intuitively, accurately tailoring recommendations to your true preferences.
Longer-term, generative AI (GenAI) might be able to generate ad content based on the programming against which it appears and the person’s viewing habits. So, that halftime ad could feature a player who scored a touchdown during the first half.
In addition to the content of ads, GenAI will even be able to optimize tone. For example, Nike recently released a provocative ad featuring tennis player Qinwen Zheng called “Winning Isn’t for Everyone.” AI may eventually be able to serve that ad to potential Nike customers who are especially competitive, while serving less provocative ads to viewers with a gentler disposition, or to viewers who have just seen their favorite team lose.
CTV’s interactive future
TV has long been branding’s favorite channel and one that is especially adept at generating communal, high-engagement experiences. As sports move to streaming and ad experiences become interactive, CTV will encompass the entire advertising funnel, both bringing in broad audiences and closing the deal via one-click purchases and gamified ads.
TV is no longer just a branding channel. It’s a full-funnel performance channel. And interactive ads on live sports will fully realize that evolution.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from Adjust. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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